Europe’s searing heatwave has claimed more than 40 lives, many of them people who have drowned trying to cool off.
In Germany, financial cutbacks have led to the closure of free municipal swimming pools, prompting people to head for rivers and lakes. Over the weekend, three swimmers lost their lives, one of them a 10-year-old girl.
A report in Bild newspaper claimed as many as 700 citizens and tourists will have died by drowing by the end of the summer, more than 100 up on last year.
Hikers in the French Alps have been warned to watch out for avalanches on Mont Blanc. The heat is melting glacial ice and loosening rocks on many popular walking routes.
Some people have died in forest fires which continue to rage in Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal and France.
